The Google homepage Thursday depicts a multicolor cake and a whole lot of candles – a celebration of sorts for the Mountain View company, which is turning 14. Want to know how influential Google has become as it edges deeper into its teenage years? Well, you need look no further than this week's announcement that Google, in addition to mapping the earth, and the stars, and the streets of the world, is now going to map the ocean floor.

Writing on the Lat Long blog, Google exec Brian McClendon this week took the wraps off its first undersea offering: a partnership with The Catlin Seaview Survey, which will allow users to pan around aquatic environments in Australia, the Philippines, and Hawaii the same way you check out a street on Street View.